It was a slow day and hardly anyone was coming into the store so I was hanging out by the front register talking to the cashier. Because it is my habit, I was staring outside and scanning passersby when a man rode up on his bike, dismounted, came into the store, and went directly to the back of the store.
Now, I probably would have watched him anyway, but because it was such a slow day, I was now very eager to do so and decided to have little fun with him as I did so.
I circled around to the back and flanked him, getting as close as I could to watch him. I soon observed him select and conceal some merchandise and start doing head checks.
Because I was so close, when he started to move toward me I really had to skedaddle to get out of his way. I was able to do so without him seeing me, but I suspect that he heard me as he now started to wander around the store looking as if he was looking for someone watching him.
I decided to back off a little and as I did so he slipped out the door. He hopped on his bike before I had the chance to get halfway to the door because I had given him too much leeway.
I came barreling out the door, almost running into an incoming customer and began to sprint at this guy as he rode his bike away.
he turned his head and saw me so he really put the "rubber to the peddle" so to speak, and began to try to outrun me.
Thankfully I had momentum behind me and he was on too high of a gear to speed up very fast so I soon caught ahold of his sweatshirt hood and began to put on the brakes.
This worked, but he now began to fall inward toward me as he slowed down. He fell over right in front of me as I was still running (remember the momentum?) and I had to jump over him and his bike in a flying somersault (thank you Aikido!) and as I came up he was getting up as well.
Once he was up I was already moving toward him and yelling that I was store security and that he needed to get on the ground NOW!
As is often the case he didn't think this was a good idea and, rather than running away as is usually the case, he squared off at me!
I yelled, "Don't you fight with me!" and began to get low for a tackle. I think I must have looked serious because now he ran...right toward and into traffic! I had to chase him down and yank him back onto the sidewalk just as a car zoomed right by me and honked (with full Doppler effect)!
Once I got ahold of him, I took him to the ground and had my way with him. Apparently someone saw all of the commotion and called the police because I could now hear sirens in the distance and they soon arrived.
After all of that the guy still had the nerve to try and plead with me not to press charges and let him go. Um, no.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
"All I want are my chips! Just give me my chips!"
So, I had a woman with some very obvious "tweaker features" stealing stuff, and after a while she got into line and payed for some chips but failed to pay for the stripped merchandise in her jacket pocket.
After paying for her chips she proceeded outside where I stopped her and gave her my usual schpeal. She cooperated and came back inside with me and I took to the back of the store where our office was. Once back there I asked her if she had any guns, knives, needles, etc. on her and she hesitated.
Hesitation in this situation is not a good thing, so because I didn't want her to go digging around for whatever she had, just in case it was a weapon, and because of the difference in our sexes and I could not, by policy, touch her to pat her down, I asked he to turn around and put her hands behind her back so that I could put her into handcuffs until the police showed up. She said, "OK, but let me have some of my chips first". I informed her that, because of liability issues, I could not allow her to ingest anything while she was in my custody and so she would have to wait until the police arrived.
Apparently this was some sort of a trigger for her because she lunged for the chips and said, "all I want are my chips! Just give me some chips!"
She didn't quite make it to the chips as I took her down and immediately tried to put her into handcuffs. She didn't like this idea and began to struggle against me.
Never underestimate the ability of a 5'3'', 100 lb. tweaker woman to put up a struggle when all she wants is her chips!
She began to yell and scream like a banshee, repeating her demand for her chips as loudly as she could as well as including, "Help! He's trying to rape me!" over and over again.
This really pissed me off and so I began to work her onto her stomach and tried to get her arms behind her back so that I could get her into handcuffs, generally ignoring her complaints of pain (being put into, and wearing, handcuffs is not suppose to be comfortable, and I was not going to go out of my way to make this experience as painless for her as I could when she was trying to gain sympathy from passersby by accusing me of rape).
I have not before or since seen a person who was as flexible as this woman was. She was F 'n Gumby! I would move her one way in order to immobilize her and she would just "flexible" out of it. I wrestled around with this woman for 15 min. before the police showed up and helped me get her into handcuffs. It finally took three of us to do so.
To top it all of there was no reason for her initial hesitation. She had thought that she had some Meth on her, but as it turned out, she had used it just previous to coming into the store and had forgotten about it.
At least, after all that, I had the satisfaction of knowing that she was going to jail for some outstanding warrants and she couldn't take her chips with her.
After paying for her chips she proceeded outside where I stopped her and gave her my usual schpeal. She cooperated and came back inside with me and I took to the back of the store where our office was. Once back there I asked her if she had any guns, knives, needles, etc. on her and she hesitated.
Hesitation in this situation is not a good thing, so because I didn't want her to go digging around for whatever she had, just in case it was a weapon, and because of the difference in our sexes and I could not, by policy, touch her to pat her down, I asked he to turn around and put her hands behind her back so that I could put her into handcuffs until the police showed up. She said, "OK, but let me have some of my chips first". I informed her that, because of liability issues, I could not allow her to ingest anything while she was in my custody and so she would have to wait until the police arrived.
Apparently this was some sort of a trigger for her because she lunged for the chips and said, "all I want are my chips! Just give me some chips!"
She didn't quite make it to the chips as I took her down and immediately tried to put her into handcuffs. She didn't like this idea and began to struggle against me.
Never underestimate the ability of a 5'3'', 100 lb. tweaker woman to put up a struggle when all she wants is her chips!
She began to yell and scream like a banshee, repeating her demand for her chips as loudly as she could as well as including, "Help! He's trying to rape me!" over and over again.
This really pissed me off and so I began to work her onto her stomach and tried to get her arms behind her back so that I could get her into handcuffs, generally ignoring her complaints of pain (being put into, and wearing, handcuffs is not suppose to be comfortable, and I was not going to go out of my way to make this experience as painless for her as I could when she was trying to gain sympathy from passersby by accusing me of rape).
I have not before or since seen a person who was as flexible as this woman was. She was F 'n Gumby! I would move her one way in order to immobilize her and she would just "flexible" out of it. I wrestled around with this woman for 15 min. before the police showed up and helped me get her into handcuffs. It finally took three of us to do so.
To top it all of there was no reason for her initial hesitation. She had thought that she had some Meth on her, but as it turned out, she had used it just previous to coming into the store and had forgotten about it.
At least, after all that, I had the satisfaction of knowing that she was going to jail for some outstanding warrants and she couldn't take her chips with her.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
And...then...he...took...a...header...into...the...slough.
I had just walked back into the store after having gotten some dinner and straight ahead of me was a guy loading his jacket pockets up with candy, apparently oblivious to me looking directly at him. I took advantage of his obliviousness and found a place less conspicuous than the middle of the aisle to watch him.
Pretty soon, after filling his pockets, he wandered out of the aisle and out the doors. I followed him out and once he was in the parking lot I approached him and gave him my schpeal. He was cooperative and turned around to head back inside with me.
I knew it had to be too good to be true because just as we got to the doors he made a run for it. I was immediately on top of him and took him down, but I landed funny (thank you Mr. Murphy), which gave the guy space to scramble to his feet. I followed him up and grabbed a hold of his backpack (which kept me from simply jumping on his back and grabbing him around the neck in the first place). I got a good hold and I began to put the brakes on, but the guy was young and stronger than he looked, and he dragged me back into the parking lot. I then jumped onto his back, despite the backpack, and promptly slid off to the side which allowed him to turn to face me. This is generally not a good position to be in, especially considering that I was not very familiar with fighting from the clinch at this point in time.
I began to yell as loudly as I could, "Store security! Stop resisting arrest! Get on the ground NOW!"
He didn't respond to this like I would have liked and instead began to try to pull away. When he figured out that I wasn't going to let go of him he began to grab at my arms and said, "let go of me! I don't want to fight but I will!" to which I responded, "If you want to turn stealing candy into a Felony Robbery you're more than welcome to try to fight me".
Now he really struggled to get away and tried everything but hitting me to do so, including attempting to press a couple of my pressure points. Although he got them, under the effects of my adrenaline I shrugged it off and began to try to take him down with different sweeps and throws. With his knowledge of pressure points I figured he had practiced, or at least read up on, martial arts but now I was beginning to suspect that he had been a high school wrestler because this guy had a hell of a base and would not go down.
Although using pressure points now made this a robbery, I didn't feel particularly threatened by him so I didn't fight back in self defense, but he was really beginning to annoy me, so I found my OC and gave him a good spray in the face.
Now I know why they tell you in training to spray from a few feet out and move. Because I was so close to him the only thing it seemed to do was cover his face and make his eyes clamp shut. I hadn't sprayed it from far enough back to let it mist and be inhaled by him for full effect. Oh... and I got a dose of back spray (what's that they say about hindsight being 20/20?).
When the OC didn't have it's intended effect I decided to at least get us out of the middle of parking lot traffic and gave him a running shove about 15 or 20 feet backwards, hoping that he would at least trip or stumble and go down that way. No such luck.
I ended up running him into the side of a parked van and pinning him there in the hope of getting some leverage that I could use against him. Again, no such luck.
He now pushed back, and we ended up jockeying for position the entire length of the side parking lot, across the street behind the store, and were stopped by the cyclone fencing running the length of a slough.
Here he said, "man, I'm homeless. I can't go to jail!" and...then...he...took...a...header...into... the...slough. I could hardly F 'n believe it!
The drop was about 15 feet and although he caught a hold of the fence before he dropped all the way down, it was still a long way to fall.
Once he was down there the first thing he did was try to rinse his face off. Um, for future reference, that's not the way to wash off OC. He was going to regret that. I learned that lesson the hard way myself later that night when I got into the shower and was reminded that I had gotten back spray.
He then began to run downstream . I called the police and followed as best as I could on street level. He ended up (somehow) getting away. He is one of only three suspects in the last five years that have done so once I have laid hands on them.
Pretty soon, after filling his pockets, he wandered out of the aisle and out the doors. I followed him out and once he was in the parking lot I approached him and gave him my schpeal. He was cooperative and turned around to head back inside with me.
I knew it had to be too good to be true because just as we got to the doors he made a run for it. I was immediately on top of him and took him down, but I landed funny (thank you Mr. Murphy), which gave the guy space to scramble to his feet. I followed him up and grabbed a hold of his backpack (which kept me from simply jumping on his back and grabbing him around the neck in the first place). I got a good hold and I began to put the brakes on, but the guy was young and stronger than he looked, and he dragged me back into the parking lot. I then jumped onto his back, despite the backpack, and promptly slid off to the side which allowed him to turn to face me. This is generally not a good position to be in, especially considering that I was not very familiar with fighting from the clinch at this point in time.
I began to yell as loudly as I could, "Store security! Stop resisting arrest! Get on the ground NOW!"
He didn't respond to this like I would have liked and instead began to try to pull away. When he figured out that I wasn't going to let go of him he began to grab at my arms and said, "let go of me! I don't want to fight but I will!" to which I responded, "If you want to turn stealing candy into a Felony Robbery you're more than welcome to try to fight me".
Now he really struggled to get away and tried everything but hitting me to do so, including attempting to press a couple of my pressure points. Although he got them, under the effects of my adrenaline I shrugged it off and began to try to take him down with different sweeps and throws. With his knowledge of pressure points I figured he had practiced, or at least read up on, martial arts but now I was beginning to suspect that he had been a high school wrestler because this guy had a hell of a base and would not go down.
Although using pressure points now made this a robbery, I didn't feel particularly threatened by him so I didn't fight back in self defense, but he was really beginning to annoy me, so I found my OC and gave him a good spray in the face.
Now I know why they tell you in training to spray from a few feet out and move. Because I was so close to him the only thing it seemed to do was cover his face and make his eyes clamp shut. I hadn't sprayed it from far enough back to let it mist and be inhaled by him for full effect. Oh... and I got a dose of back spray (what's that they say about hindsight being 20/20?).
When the OC didn't have it's intended effect I decided to at least get us out of the middle of parking lot traffic and gave him a running shove about 15 or 20 feet backwards, hoping that he would at least trip or stumble and go down that way. No such luck.
I ended up running him into the side of a parked van and pinning him there in the hope of getting some leverage that I could use against him. Again, no such luck.
He now pushed back, and we ended up jockeying for position the entire length of the side parking lot, across the street behind the store, and were stopped by the cyclone fencing running the length of a slough.
Here he said, "man, I'm homeless. I can't go to jail!" and...then...he...took...a...header...into... the...slough. I could hardly F 'n believe it!
The drop was about 15 feet and although he caught a hold of the fence before he dropped all the way down, it was still a long way to fall.
Once he was down there the first thing he did was try to rinse his face off. Um, for future reference, that's not the way to wash off OC. He was going to regret that. I learned that lesson the hard way myself later that night when I got into the shower and was reminded that I had gotten back spray.
He then began to run downstream . I called the police and followed as best as I could on street level. He ended up (somehow) getting away. He is one of only three suspects in the last five years that have done so once I have laid hands on them.
"WOO-HOO! That was AWESOME!"
So I'm working the door at the club on the night the "Unauthorized Sublime Tribute Band" is playing and we have some VERY enthusiastic customers. Now normally the club is a fairly mellow place, even on the nights we have a couple of hundred guests. In fact in the three or so years that I've worked there I've had to "go hands on" maybe three times.
Tonight was a little different.
I had been called inside off the door to help manage the line between the musicians and the fans, and although it was kinda hectic, most of the people were behaving themselves.
On the last song though I see that a hole has developed in the middle of the crowd, so I go to investigate. I soon found out why there was a hole. There is guy trying to mosh by himself and people are just trying to stay out of his way.
Although he is all over the place, I finally got a hold of him and yell over the music,"I'M SECURITY! OUTSIDE NOW!" to which he responds, "I DON'T GIVE A FUCK WHO YOU ARE!" and, apparently pissed that I interrupted his moshin' good time, he pulls his right fist back to hit me.
I responded by passing the punch and stepping into him, grabbing him in what amounts to a lifeguard cross-chest tow, and grabed a handful of his dreadlocks, pulling back adn causing his neck and spine to compress so as to minimize his movement. I then proceeded to drag him outside, with a short stop at the front door to pry him off the door frame. Once we were outside I threw him onto the side walk and prepared for him to come back at me, which didn't happen.
Instead the guy got up with a huge grin on his face, let out a, "WOO-HOO! That was AWESOME!" and headed off down the sidewalk, leaving me with what must have been a completely dumbfounded expression on my face.
Tonight was a little different.
I had been called inside off the door to help manage the line between the musicians and the fans, and although it was kinda hectic, most of the people were behaving themselves.
On the last song though I see that a hole has developed in the middle of the crowd, so I go to investigate. I soon found out why there was a hole. There is guy trying to mosh by himself and people are just trying to stay out of his way.
Although he is all over the place, I finally got a hold of him and yell over the music,"I'M SECURITY! OUTSIDE NOW!" to which he responds, "I DON'T GIVE A FUCK WHO YOU ARE!" and, apparently pissed that I interrupted his moshin' good time, he pulls his right fist back to hit me.
I responded by passing the punch and stepping into him, grabbing him in what amounts to a lifeguard cross-chest tow, and grabed a handful of his dreadlocks, pulling back adn causing his neck and spine to compress so as to minimize his movement. I then proceeded to drag him outside, with a short stop at the front door to pry him off the door frame. Once we were outside I threw him onto the side walk and prepared for him to come back at me, which didn't happen.
Instead the guy got up with a huge grin on his face, let out a, "WOO-HOO! That was AWESOME!" and headed off down the sidewalk, leaving me with what must have been a completely dumbfounded expression on my face.
Wednesday, April 4, 2007
"GET THE GUN OUT OF THE CAR!"
I see two Hispanic males on the baby food aisle. One is standing next to a cart with a covered baby carrier in it while the other keeps going from end to end of the aisle. Alarm bells are ringing.
I radio my partner and find a place to surveil the two. Sure enough the one who was next to the shopping cart reaches into it, uncovers the baby carrier, looks at his buddy who gives him a nod, and starts to load up on baby formula. When he's done he covers up the baby carrier again and the two stroll out of the aisle, and the front doors, as if it were the most normal thing in the world to do.
Once they get outside I sprint out after them but they see me coming and take off toward their car, ditching the cart in the process.
I catch up to the one who loaded up the merchandise, grab him around the neck with my arms (gross motor skill and all that) and begin to try and take him down, while my partner starts chasing the other guy around the car.
I'm having a heck of a time with bad guy #1, who ends up bending over and lifting me off the ground and giving me a ride. At least my partner has caught bad guy #2. Or so I thought. He grabbed bad guy #2 in a similar hold as I grabbed mine, but overcompensated in an attempt to keep from being lifted up like I did, and ended up backing up into the curb, falling over, and letting go of him. Now I've got a hold of bad guy #1, I've got bad guy#2 running around like a chicken with his head cut off, and I've got my partner trying to recover and scramble to his feet... all the while the two bad guys are yelling at each other in Spanish, talking about who knows what.
The next thing I know Bad Guy #1 yells at Bad Guy #2 in clear, plain english, "GET THE GUN OUT OF THE CAR!" and Bad Guy #1 goes diving into the front drivers side door. Of course I'm thinking ,"oh, shit!"
Bad Guy #2 comes out of the car with his right sleeve pulled down over his hand, looking scared out his mind, and begins to point his covered hand at me, while yelling, "LET GO OF HIM!" I can see my partner, frozen, over Bad Guy #2's shoulder.
By this time I had found my feet again and had sunk a proper choke on Bad Guy #2, who was now starting to feel it. I began to yell, "GUN! GUN! SOMEBODY CALL THE POLICE" (there was a lot of YELLING going on), and started backpedaling out into the middle of the stores front drive, dragging Bad Guy #1 along with me. Bad Guy #2 began to follow, still pointing his covered hand at me. The thought crossed my mind that this guy was bluffing, otherwise why wouldn't he just display the thing to me, but I thought, why take the chance.
I released the choke hold I had on Bad Guy #1, gave him a good shove away from me and toward his buddy, and continued backpedalling away from the two while continuing to yell for someone to call the police.
The Bad Guys recovered, hopped into their car, and sped off into the sunset, never to be heard from again.
At least we recovered the baby formula.
I radio my partner and find a place to surveil the two. Sure enough the one who was next to the shopping cart reaches into it, uncovers the baby carrier, looks at his buddy who gives him a nod, and starts to load up on baby formula. When he's done he covers up the baby carrier again and the two stroll out of the aisle, and the front doors, as if it were the most normal thing in the world to do.
Once they get outside I sprint out after them but they see me coming and take off toward their car, ditching the cart in the process.
I catch up to the one who loaded up the merchandise, grab him around the neck with my arms (gross motor skill and all that) and begin to try and take him down, while my partner starts chasing the other guy around the car.
I'm having a heck of a time with bad guy #1, who ends up bending over and lifting me off the ground and giving me a ride. At least my partner has caught bad guy #2. Or so I thought. He grabbed bad guy #2 in a similar hold as I grabbed mine, but overcompensated in an attempt to keep from being lifted up like I did, and ended up backing up into the curb, falling over, and letting go of him. Now I've got a hold of bad guy #1, I've got bad guy#2 running around like a chicken with his head cut off, and I've got my partner trying to recover and scramble to his feet... all the while the two bad guys are yelling at each other in Spanish, talking about who knows what.
The next thing I know Bad Guy #1 yells at Bad Guy #2 in clear, plain english, "GET THE GUN OUT OF THE CAR!" and Bad Guy #1 goes diving into the front drivers side door. Of course I'm thinking ,"oh, shit!"
Bad Guy #2 comes out of the car with his right sleeve pulled down over his hand, looking scared out his mind, and begins to point his covered hand at me, while yelling, "LET GO OF HIM!" I can see my partner, frozen, over Bad Guy #2's shoulder.
By this time I had found my feet again and had sunk a proper choke on Bad Guy #2, who was now starting to feel it. I began to yell, "GUN! GUN! SOMEBODY CALL THE POLICE" (there was a lot of YELLING going on), and started backpedaling out into the middle of the stores front drive, dragging Bad Guy #1 along with me. Bad Guy #2 began to follow, still pointing his covered hand at me. The thought crossed my mind that this guy was bluffing, otherwise why wouldn't he just display the thing to me, but I thought, why take the chance.
I released the choke hold I had on Bad Guy #1, gave him a good shove away from me and toward his buddy, and continued backpedalling away from the two while continuing to yell for someone to call the police.
The Bad Guys recovered, hopped into their car, and sped off into the sunset, never to be heard from again.
At least we recovered the baby formula.
Finger in the eye
So this guy comes into the store, selects and conceals a bunch of stuff, and decides to go out the door without paying for it. So as my job requires, I went out after him. As I always do, I came up behind him, gently took a hold of his of his right arm at the elbow with my left hand and said in a low voice near his ear, "excuse me Sir, store security. I need to talk to you about the merchandise you failed to pay for." He turned to look at me and said, "OK, you got me." We both turned around to head back toward the front doors, took a few steps, and then BAM, the guy spins around and begins to run the other way.
He didn't get far before I caught up to him and, since he was running along a wall and coming up to another wall, making a right angle, I figured he would have to make a right to go anywhere. I took advantage of this and gave him a shove so that he would run into the wall. This backfired on me big time, as I was to close to him and he bounced off the wall and back into me. We both went down and we began to grapple on the ground. I got the upper hand by getting his back and began to apply a "lateral vascular neck restraint".
In my experience, the fear of being choked out is usually enough to convince a person to cease and desist, and at the very most I will have to apply a little more pressure as to convince the person I'm willing to do it as I coo into his ear to stop struggling or he's going to go out. Apparently this guy didn't care and began to get up anyway.
Being surprised at his display of "retard strength" (sorry for not being PC) I put my hooks in and began to work the choke, all the while yelling as loudly as I could, over and over again, "Store security! Stop resisting arrest! Help! Somebody call the Police!"
The man began to go down, but as he did so we went down backward, with him landing on top of me. The impact caused me to loosen my grip on him and he slid off to my left, which caused me to loose pressure on the choke (my right arm was around his neck) and my left leg lost my hook around his mid- section. We landed with our left shoulders on a parking spot curb, and so because of this position, and due to my left leg now being between his two legs, I could not sweep him and regain a stable rear mount and re-establish the choke. To top it all off the guy began to flail his hands and grope for my eyes (which was the impetus for me buying the safety glasses that I can be seen wearing in the photo to the right), and he was now yelling something to the effect of, "Just kill me now! My life is over! I'm going to kill myself!"
Because of the position we were in I had wrapped my legs around his right leg and he, of all things, figured out that he could put pressure on my right foot, which was on top of my left foot, with his left foot (confused yet?). This caused me excruciating pain and, with enough pressure, could possibly tear stuff in that area or break my ankle. Of course I'm sure he wasn't aware of the mechanics of what he was doing. All he probably cared about was that he was causing me pain.
I began to yell at him to stop, which only caused him to redouble his effort. Because my choke was now ineffectual, and I had to do something to get him to stop, I continued to hold on to him with my right arm and swung my left arm over his head which allowed me put my left middle and ring fingers into his left eye. I began to yell at him to stop hurting my ankle or I would take his eye out. He kept on so I did the same, sliding my fingers further and further into his eye... with no noticeable response. Excuse me for being crude, but somewhere along the way I was told that putting your fingers into someones eye felt like putting them into a woman. Not true. This was about the grossest thing I had ever experienced.
When I could feel my middle finger begin to go around the back curvature of his eyeball, I decided that I had a decision to make. I could either take his eye out of his skull, or, since it wasn't having any effect anyway, I could take my finger out of his eye and try something else.
I took my fingers out of his eye and put the knuckle of my left index finger under the septum of his nose. THIS got his attention (go figure). Of course now he began to chomp at my fingers.
Somewhere along the way a bystander had taken his left foot off of my ankle, which relieved the pain, so I had a little more to work with. I now considered just letting the guy go, but now I had a gaggle of people watching and the last thing I needed was this guy, considering his apparently unstable state of mind, attacking one of them, so I decided to just hold on to him as best I could until the police arrived. Thankfully I could now here sirens in the distance.
The police soon arrived and tackled the guy off of me. They put him into handcuffs, placed him into the back seat of a cruiser and began to take my statement. In the middle of our conversation we began to hear a banging coming from the cruiser with the guy in it, and we turned our heads just in time to see him kick the back side window out. I don't think I have ever seen cops move so fast before of since. The three that were on scene ran over, yanked him out of the car, hog tied him, and threw him into another cruiser.
It turns out that the guy was mentally unstable, under the influence, and well known to the police for this kind of behavior. Good times!
He didn't get far before I caught up to him and, since he was running along a wall and coming up to another wall, making a right angle, I figured he would have to make a right to go anywhere. I took advantage of this and gave him a shove so that he would run into the wall. This backfired on me big time, as I was to close to him and he bounced off the wall and back into me. We both went down and we began to grapple on the ground. I got the upper hand by getting his back and began to apply a "lateral vascular neck restraint".
In my experience, the fear of being choked out is usually enough to convince a person to cease and desist, and at the very most I will have to apply a little more pressure as to convince the person I'm willing to do it as I coo into his ear to stop struggling or he's going to go out. Apparently this guy didn't care and began to get up anyway.
Being surprised at his display of "retard strength" (sorry for not being PC) I put my hooks in and began to work the choke, all the while yelling as loudly as I could, over and over again, "Store security! Stop resisting arrest! Help! Somebody call the Police!"
The man began to go down, but as he did so we went down backward, with him landing on top of me. The impact caused me to loosen my grip on him and he slid off to my left, which caused me to loose pressure on the choke (my right arm was around his neck) and my left leg lost my hook around his mid- section. We landed with our left shoulders on a parking spot curb, and so because of this position, and due to my left leg now being between his two legs, I could not sweep him and regain a stable rear mount and re-establish the choke. To top it all off the guy began to flail his hands and grope for my eyes (which was the impetus for me buying the safety glasses that I can be seen wearing in the photo to the right), and he was now yelling something to the effect of, "Just kill me now! My life is over! I'm going to kill myself!"
Because of the position we were in I had wrapped my legs around his right leg and he, of all things, figured out that he could put pressure on my right foot, which was on top of my left foot, with his left foot (confused yet?). This caused me excruciating pain and, with enough pressure, could possibly tear stuff in that area or break my ankle. Of course I'm sure he wasn't aware of the mechanics of what he was doing. All he probably cared about was that he was causing me pain.
I began to yell at him to stop, which only caused him to redouble his effort. Because my choke was now ineffectual, and I had to do something to get him to stop, I continued to hold on to him with my right arm and swung my left arm over his head which allowed me put my left middle and ring fingers into his left eye. I began to yell at him to stop hurting my ankle or I would take his eye out. He kept on so I did the same, sliding my fingers further and further into his eye... with no noticeable response. Excuse me for being crude, but somewhere along the way I was told that putting your fingers into someones eye felt like putting them into a woman. Not true. This was about the grossest thing I had ever experienced.
When I could feel my middle finger begin to go around the back curvature of his eyeball, I decided that I had a decision to make. I could either take his eye out of his skull, or, since it wasn't having any effect anyway, I could take my finger out of his eye and try something else.
I took my fingers out of his eye and put the knuckle of my left index finger under the septum of his nose. THIS got his attention (go figure). Of course now he began to chomp at my fingers.
Somewhere along the way a bystander had taken his left foot off of my ankle, which relieved the pain, so I had a little more to work with. I now considered just letting the guy go, but now I had a gaggle of people watching and the last thing I needed was this guy, considering his apparently unstable state of mind, attacking one of them, so I decided to just hold on to him as best I could until the police arrived. Thankfully I could now here sirens in the distance.
The police soon arrived and tackled the guy off of me. They put him into handcuffs, placed him into the back seat of a cruiser and began to take my statement. In the middle of our conversation we began to hear a banging coming from the cruiser with the guy in it, and we turned our heads just in time to see him kick the back side window out. I don't think I have ever seen cops move so fast before of since. The three that were on scene ran over, yanked him out of the car, hog tied him, and threw him into another cruiser.
It turns out that the guy was mentally unstable, under the influence, and well known to the police for this kind of behavior. Good times!
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
Fight at the Bijou
Holy shit, so there I was (the best way to start any story like this ;-)... although I don't remember the date, I had gone to see a showing of the " X Men" movie at the local art house theater and all during the movie a group of five local street/ punk/ anarchist type kids were being loud and obnoxious. At some point I had gotten up to get the manager and although he did talk to them, it wasn't long before they were at it again. I decided to just settle in, ignore them as best I could, and enjoy the movie.
It didn't work.
I ended up fuming during the whole movie (luckily It was my second time seeing it) and I decided that, after the movie was over, I was going to give them a piece of m mind.
When the movie finished I headed out the door and waited for them to come out. When they did they all blew by me except for the last one who's attention I was able to catch and I said to him (in my normal calm and diplomatic tone), " just to give you a heads up, your behavior in the theater was very inappropriate. Try thinking about other people next time" to which he responded with a very resounding, "fuck you!"
Now, at this point I know I should have let it go and said something to the effect of, "OK... well, I just wanted to let you know how I feel. Have a good night" but instead I came back with, "no...fuck you!" so this the kid responded by blading his body and putting his guard up.
In a clumsy and inexperience attempt to de-escalate the situation I said, "look, I do this for a living" (refearing to having spent the previous few months as a bouncer). He said, "so do I" (I'm still not sure what he meant by it). Being a little caught off guard and not knowing what to do next, I suggested that we go into the courtyard.
Now, I don't know why I made this suggestion (being nicknamed "Safety Dave" wouldn't happen for quite a few more years) because this guy looked dangerous, smelled bad, had spikey wrist bands and studs everywhere and, not knowing where he slept at night or what his personal grooming habits were, looked like a bio hazard. I really didn't have an interest in touching him or getting as close to him as a CQB engagement would require.
The guy didn't really give me the opprtunity to consider the folly of my course of action though as he faked a lunge at me and I reacted with a snap kick to his groin. It worked, and he went down, but not before I noticed that his hand had come up over his head and he had a home made sap in it. This of course scared me, but the fear was tempered by him saying about the funniest thing I've ever heard someone say, at least under those circumstances, " Oh...oh man...that's not alright", with the first "oh" the "man" and the "alright" kinda being drawn out as if he were in excruciating pain (as I suppose he was).
I retreated and went back inside to find the manager. He called the police and we went outside so that he could tell the kids to leave the property (my story from here on out was the "have a good night" version rather than the "no... fuck you" version).
When the two of us got to the side walk, the guy that I had encountered was still on his knees and his friends were standing around him. I immediately noticed that three of the five had knives out and in their hands. I don't know if the manager noticed this or not, but he proceeded to tell them that he had called the police and that they needed to get off the property. They did so but stopped about a block away and heckled me until the police showed up, at which point they melted away into the shadows.
When the police arrived I gave them my version of the story and they asked if I wanted a ride home. I didn't live very far away so I declined and took off on foot. Along the way I stopped by the local 7-11 as I had friends who worked there and I wanted to share my story. When I rounded the corner into the parking lot, who should be sitting on the side walk and leaning against the building but the kid I had just kicked in the ol' twig and berries. He didn't look up as I passed him, but he did manage to get out, "can you spare some change?" I responded in the negative and went past him into the store. I told the story to my friends and then called the police.
They soon arrived and placed him in custody for menacing and harassment.
This incident by the way has been, to date, the only fight I've engaged in outside of work and happened close to ten years ago. As you hopefully noticed, I made mistake after mistake during the incident and I learned a lot from it.
It didn't work.
I ended up fuming during the whole movie (luckily It was my second time seeing it) and I decided that, after the movie was over, I was going to give them a piece of m mind.
When the movie finished I headed out the door and waited for them to come out. When they did they all blew by me except for the last one who's attention I was able to catch and I said to him (in my normal calm and diplomatic tone), " just to give you a heads up, your behavior in the theater was very inappropriate. Try thinking about other people next time" to which he responded with a very resounding, "fuck you!"
Now, at this point I know I should have let it go and said something to the effect of, "OK... well, I just wanted to let you know how I feel. Have a good night" but instead I came back with, "no...fuck you!" so this the kid responded by blading his body and putting his guard up.
In a clumsy and inexperience attempt to de-escalate the situation I said, "look, I do this for a living" (refearing to having spent the previous few months as a bouncer). He said, "so do I" (I'm still not sure what he meant by it). Being a little caught off guard and not knowing what to do next, I suggested that we go into the courtyard.
Now, I don't know why I made this suggestion (being nicknamed "Safety Dave" wouldn't happen for quite a few more years) because this guy looked dangerous, smelled bad, had spikey wrist bands and studs everywhere and, not knowing where he slept at night or what his personal grooming habits were, looked like a bio hazard. I really didn't have an interest in touching him or getting as close to him as a CQB engagement would require.
The guy didn't really give me the opprtunity to consider the folly of my course of action though as he faked a lunge at me and I reacted with a snap kick to his groin. It worked, and he went down, but not before I noticed that his hand had come up over his head and he had a home made sap in it. This of course scared me, but the fear was tempered by him saying about the funniest thing I've ever heard someone say, at least under those circumstances, " Oh...oh man...that's not alright", with the first "oh" the "man" and the "alright" kinda being drawn out as if he were in excruciating pain (as I suppose he was).
I retreated and went back inside to find the manager. He called the police and we went outside so that he could tell the kids to leave the property (my story from here on out was the "have a good night" version rather than the "no... fuck you" version).
When the two of us got to the side walk, the guy that I had encountered was still on his knees and his friends were standing around him. I immediately noticed that three of the five had knives out and in their hands. I don't know if the manager noticed this or not, but he proceeded to tell them that he had called the police and that they needed to get off the property. They did so but stopped about a block away and heckled me until the police showed up, at which point they melted away into the shadows.
When the police arrived I gave them my version of the story and they asked if I wanted a ride home. I didn't live very far away so I declined and took off on foot. Along the way I stopped by the local 7-11 as I had friends who worked there and I wanted to share my story. When I rounded the corner into the parking lot, who should be sitting on the side walk and leaning against the building but the kid I had just kicked in the ol' twig and berries. He didn't look up as I passed him, but he did manage to get out, "can you spare some change?" I responded in the negative and went past him into the store. I told the story to my friends and then called the police.
They soon arrived and placed him in custody for menacing and harassment.
This incident by the way has been, to date, the only fight I've engaged in outside of work and happened close to ten years ago. As you hopefully noticed, I made mistake after mistake during the incident and I learned a lot from it.
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